# So you'd like to be a (pragmatic) Free Software extremist?

Quick word of warning, many listed articles may contain **liberalism**, proceed
with **extreme caution** (lol) and read critically! Just because some things written
are idiotic, does not write off the message in them!

## What Free Software even is and is it any different from Open Source?

[*What is Free Software?* by the Free Software Foundation](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html)

[*Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free Software* by the Free Software Foundation](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html)

## Now why would you want to become a Free Software extremist?

First of all, we are *Marxists*. We know electoralism is not getting us anywhere,
so the first order of business is fighting for material conditions that can
allow us to introduce Free Software everywhere. But creating and using existing Free Software can
help us fight capitalism from encroaching on our rights, privacy and helping us
spread the message of the eternal science. With Free Software we can fight
[government agencies and capital](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes) from 
spying and monitoring us by using secure communications software,
create separate spaces from proprietary platforms so that we can spread information
without fear of being cast out and censored (As we already do here on Lemmygrad!) and breathe
new life into hardware "our corporate overlords" decided was too old to be usable anymore.

And the best reason? *This is seizing the means of computing* itself into the hands
of the proletariat! Everyone gets a say in how software they use operates, even if
the current project developers disagree with you and don't want to implement your
ideas or changes you can take their code, and create an offshoot of that project!
Maybe you don't like how modern operating systems look and would like to create
something stylized for yourself, or maybe you believe current UI norms hamper your
productivity and would like to try something else? After all, *why shouldn't you get a
say in how your own machine functions?*

[*A Free Digital Society - What Makes Digital Inclusion Good or Bad?!* by the GNU project](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-digital-society.html)

[*Big Tech Threats to Education and Society as a Whole* by the GNU project](https://www.gnu.org/education/bigtech-threats-to-education-and-society.html#content)

## How can I help besides lifestylism?

Write software and/or spread the word!

Teach comrades about the dangers of using
proprietary software that can compromise us in fighting for a revolution.
Mention how we can reclaim our privacy and secure important communications,
how we can have an operating system that is customizable, fast, works well on
old hardware (no planned obsolescence here!) and doesn't spy on you by design.
Mention to them that there exists software that is made by the people for the people
and not purely for profit!

Write software, specifically to help others and make sure it remains free for all!
Stray away from permissive licenses as those allow your code to become proprietary and
mostly help only corporations that prey on software developers using them as *free
labor*; without the need to give back to the community! Make sure your code is
using a copyleft license like the [GNU Public License](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html)
or the [Affero GNU Public License](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-affero-gpl.html)
if you plan to create a web application or a platform (like lemmy!), or want to *force*
companies like Amazon that don't distribute software but use it to provide a service
to give back what they contributed.

Report GPL violations if you see them! These licenses have been accepted by US courts, and corporations
are sure to be cautious around copyleft software as organizations exist which enforce
license compliance and sue offenders!

[*What is Copyleft?* by the GNU project](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.html)

[*The Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement* by the Free Software Foundation](https://www.fsf.org/licensing/enforcement-principles)

[*Conservancy's Copyleft Compliance Projects* by the Software Freedom Conservancy](https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/)

## Why should I even bother?

Free Software is in danger, corporations are pushing it off as extremist and uncompromising
(which it is and that's good!), and thus they are doing their best to promote creating
software that is permissively licensed. Such licenses do not make the software viral,
in short it can be used in proprietary software and the license does not require
any changes to the software to be redistributed under the same license, nor does
it make any software combined with it free. This allows
corporations to leech of off essentially a **huge** pool of free labor without them
being required to contribute back to the projects. This can also mean that your
software could be potentially counter productive to communists and [humanity as a whole.](https://itsfoss.com/fact-intel-minix-case/)

Copyleft licenses make corporations think twice, and it is a real liability to
them to use such software. This protects users and developers writing the software
from being profited of off without consequence. [Don't be a sucker.](https://nitter.net/tim_nolet/status/1317064995008544768#m)

# Okay how about actually using some?

This section is promoting a **dogmatic** approach to the use of free software with
little considerance for proprietary software but it will be mentioned for the
purposes of pragmatism as many cannot allow themselves to use 100% free software,
whatever their situation may be. **This is lifestylism, do it only out of your own choice.**
If you do not know much about Linux disrtibutions, it is recommended you visit
the *"So you'd like to get into Linux?"* sticky to get started.
As a person who tries to do use only free software out principle, genuine interest
and curiosity I don't say it is required by everyone so that they may be a Free Software proponent or
even an extremist. So let's get into this!

## Linux distributions

- [Trisquel](https://trisquel.info/) is a good choice for beginners that do not
know technicalities of Linux or other *NIX-like operating systems. However know
that because it uses the [Linux-libre](https://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/selibre/linux-libre/) kernel it does not contain any proprietary
firmware which cuts of a *lot* of Wi-Fi cards, NVidia video cards, and some other
peripherals! It works on a version release basis so the OS needs to be updated after
some time, somewhat like how versioning works in Windows.
It is based on Ubuntu and can be a bit slow from my experience.

- [Parabola](https://www.parabola.nu/) is a fork of Arch Linux that uses the
[Linux-libre](https://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/selibre/linux-libre/)
kernel as mentioned in Trisquel's description above so keep that in mind! It also contains measures
to restrict usage of non-free software. It's my personal favorite, thanks very much to
the huge resource of knowledge that is the Arch wiki and because it uses
bleeding edge versions of software, the OS itself is constantly in a rolling release,
meaning there is no versioning of it. There is *just Parabola* that gets a constant
stream of updates. However I've had to manually resolve software dependency issues a few times,
which happens in these types of distributions due to how quickly software is being updated.

- [Guix](https://guix.gnu.org/) is a distribution most similar to NixOS, it also
uses the [Linux-libre](https://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/selibre/linux-libre/) kernel.
It's package manager is made specifically to combat dependency issues as well fixing
broken systems after mishaps in advanced configurations.
I know the least about it, so please visit it's site linked above.

- [Debian](https://www.debian.org/) is the most stable distribution in my personal
experience, however that is because it uses rather old versions of software.
Unlike the distributions above which require the user to use 100% free software, in Debian
that is only a choice. The default one, yes. But if you need to you can easily enable
repositories that contain non-free software and firmware **during installation**.
I recommend this one to absolute beginners to do, so not worry about having to fiddle with
configuration files after installation to install non-free software. You
can just check a tick box, [something which was just recently added!](https://www.debian.org/vote/2022/vote_003)

## Where can I find software that is 100% free?

The package managers included in distributions mentioned above already care for
the user and do not include non-free software, unless you've specifically chose them to do so.
But if the software you'd like, or would just like to explore what isn't included in
the package manager, or if you'd like to avoid non-free software with non-free repositories enabled
you can check out [the Free Software Directory](https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Main_Page).

What's a package manager you say?
Visit the *"So you'd like to get into Linux?"* sticky to learn more!

## How do I know if my hardware will work?

Since hardware manufacturers often decide not to publish firmware for their devices
under a free license, not all hardware will work. The type of hardware that is the least
lucky are Wi-Fi cards, as many modern ones do not work without proprietary software.
Also, because of this Wi-Fi 4 is the best we've got on free firmware.

If you'd like to know for sure what hardware works visit [h-node](https://www.h-node.org/),
they have quite a comprehensive database of devices that do work.
I also would like to add a personal resource I've used due to how *good* it is,
a manual page from the OpenBSD operating system: [athn(4)](https://man.openbsd.org/man4/athn.4).
It contains a table of Wi-Fi chipsets that *will* work with 100% Free Software, and through those
you can find compatible devices, and how they connect to computers. USB is most reliable.

## How hardcore can I go?

You can try going even further with using free software by using hardware that is
supported by [Libreboot](http://libreboot.org/), as that is a complete libre distribution of coreboot.
It is a replacement for the supported hardware's BIOS. Since recently, Leah Rowe
has been very hard at work and the project sprung back to life after laying dormant
for a few years. She even adopted a *pragmatic* approach to spreading Free Software,
and left behind the dogmatic one.

How about saying hello to [librecmc](https://librecmc.org/), which is firmware
for routers. It is based on OpenWRT and modifies it to use 100% Free Software.
Some plaftorms that may be listed as supported, but unfortunately aren't longer are due to having
too small of a flash and not enough memory. Your best cheap bet is a TP-LINK WR1043ND,
as there are ready made images for these and because they are relatively well
available.

How further you decide to go, and maybe if you decide to be a second Richard Stallman
is up to you. Get a Pinephone, maybe drop a phone completely due to privacy reasons
or something. This is *all* up to you. Doesn't change the fact it's *lifestylism*.

## Well this all cool and good. Should I know anything else?

If you find this guide lacking and would like to improve it or wish to fix misconceptions.
Please check out it's [repository on NotABug](https://notabug.org/polskilumalo/lemmygrad_leftistunix), open a pull request or create an issue!

Here are some additional resources that can help you:

[*I Love Free Software...But I Still Use Proprietary Software* by Distrotube](https://yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=ph5DjXOxxgw)

You can also DM a mod! Just make sure they've been active recently.

*© 2023 This guide is licensed under the* [*Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 License*](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode)

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